This study examined the phase competition and critical thickness of ε-Fe₂O₃ in epitaxial ε-Fe₂O₃ thin films grown on a (100)-oriented yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrate using a pulsed laser deposition technique. The maximum critical thickness was found to be ∼20 nm for a single phase of ε-Fe₂O₃ at the optimal laser spot size without impurities. Above this critical thickness, (00l)-oriented α-Fe₂O₃ begins to appear along with ε-Fe₂O₃, eventually dominating in the thicker samples. These results suggest that the stability of ε-Fe₂O₃ films are influenced by the appearance of a specific domain pattern, which becomes a favorable nucleation site for α-Fe₂O₃. The ε-Fe₂O₃ films grown on the YSZ (100) substrate have a larger saturation moment than ε-Fe₂O₃ grown on SrTiO₃ (111), and its coercive field approaches 1/4 of the maximum coercive field of ε-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles.

中文翻译：

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的特定磁畴图案ε -铁₂ ö _3层上生长的钇稳定的氧化锆（100），其为成核位点用于薄膜的α-Fe ₂ ö ₃

本研究ε-Fe的相竞争和临界厚度₂ ö ₃在外延ε -铁₂ ö _3个薄膜生长使用脉冲激光沉积技术（100）取向的钇稳定的氧化锆（YSZ）衬底上。最大临界厚度被发现是对ε-Fe的单相〜20纳米₂ ö ₃在最佳激光光斑大小无杂质。高于该临界厚度，（00升）取向的α-Fe ₂ ö ₃开始与ε -铁一起出现₂ ö ₃，最终较厚样品中主导。这些结果表明，稳定ε -铁₂ ö ₃薄膜是由特定域图案的外观，这成为了良好的成核位点用于的α-Fe的影响₂ ö ₃。的ε -铁_2个ö _3个薄膜生长在YSZ（100）衬底具有较大的饱和磁矩比ε -铁₂ ö ₃上的SrTiO生长₃（111），它的矫顽场接近1/4的最大矫顽场的ε -铁_2个ö ₃纳米颗粒。